HCILH Ch. 35

Chapter 35: Assist

As Sui Houyu and the others returned to the classroom with their sports uniforms, Hou Mo and the other athletes stared at the familiar uniforms in their hands for a long time.

Deng Yiheng poked Hou Mo’s arm with his own and asked: “Are we all family now?”

Hou Mo shook his head in confusion: “I don’t know.”

Even on the day Sui Houyu left on his bike, he hadn’t mentioned this at all.

The athletes had two sets of sports uniforms, both in black.

One set consisted of long-sleeved tops and long pants. The top was a cardigan, with red and white patchwork decorations on the shoulders and the school emblem on the chest. The pants were primarily black, adorned with white stripes on both sides, and the white stripes at the thigh had a red patch.

Since this was exclusive to the Fenghua athletes, the school emblem hadn’t been changed yet, still bearing the Fenghua logo.

The style was simple, giving off a neat and stylish look when worn.

The other set was a short-sleeved T-shirt, white in color, with black accents on the collar and sleeves, made of breathable material that was also easy to wash without losing shape.

The matching piece was a pair of black shorts, also loose-fitting and suitable for sports.

The athletes in their class often wore these uniforms to class, standing out distinctly as they walked around the school.

They wore school uniforms, which were neat and cohesive, but different from everyone else, showcasing their identity.

In the summer, they occasionally wore their summer sports uniforms, which consisted of the T-shirt and shorts, with the outer sports jacket, almost becoming a fashion statement for the athletes.

It was hard to say where the fashion sense lay.

Ran Shu had privately dissed Sui Houyu many times, always feeling that this outfit looked mismatched.

Unexpectedly, it wouldn’t be long before they would be dressing this way too.

Hou Mo leaned over and asked, “What’s going on?”

Sui Houyu opened the packaging and shook out the sports uniform, pondering whether to wash it before wearing it, then replied, “I joined the tennis team.”

Hou Mo remained surprisingly calm upon hearing this, at least when he was facing Sui Houyu.

As he turned around, seemingly to relay the news, the corners of his mouth lifted, his eyes curved in a bright smile, then he said to Deng Yiheng, “Yeah, we’re all in this together now.”

Deng Yiheng’s attention wasn’t on Sui Houyu; he leaned over to ask Su Anyi, “Sister Su! You… you joined too?”

Su Anyi coldly turned her head to answer, “I’ll be the coach’s assistant.”

Deng Yiheng was so excited he started waving his hands, wanting to give Su Anyi a heart gesture, but since Su Anyi didn’t look at him again, he could only tremble his voice and say, “Go for it! I support you!”

Hou Mo watched Deng Yiheng’s hopelessly excited demeanor and suddenly felt a lot calmer.

After accepting the news, he turned back to ask Sui Houyu: “So you’ll be training with us starting today?”

“We’re going for a physical exam this afternoon.”

“Oh…”

“The coach told me I can eat whatever I want. Is there going to be any problem after the physical?”

Hou Mo shook his head: “No.”

Sui Houyu looked at him in confusion, so he sighed and added: “Once you become a student athlete, you have to watch your diet. You’ll have to quit carbonated drinks and milk tea completely.”

Ran Shu, who had been catching up on homework, screamed: “What?!”

Hou Mo chuckled and continued, “I’m not done yet. You also need to cut out puffed and fried foods since they’re not good for your muscles. We generally don’t eat instant noodles; the team provides us with meals. You’ll need to eat with us in the future. It’s okay to have takeout occasionally, as long as you avoid the restricted foods, but during the season, we’ll eat in the cafeteria for three months.”

Sui Houyu had seen Hou Mo’s food restrictions before but didn’t take it seriously.

Now he realized they would also have to restrict their diets, and today was probably the last day they could eat whatever they wanted.

Ran Shu turned back to persuade Sui Houyu: “Brother Yu, you can still change your mind. Joining them isn’t really that great.”

Hou Mo immediately chimed in: “It’s not all bad. For the homework during the National Day holiday, those of us participating in the competition will boldly refuse to turn it in, and Gege will help us communicate with our subject teachers.”

Ran Shu fell silent again; the homework for the National Day holiday was indeed a lot. He thought for a moment and went back to catching up on assignments.

Sui Houyu contemplated the sports uniform for a while, and in the end, he decided to continue joining the tennis team.

Once the uniform was neatly organized, he looked up and saw Hou Mo resting his chin on his hand, watching him with a particularly handsome smile.

Sui Houyu felt a bit uneasy and set the uniform aside, then joined in catching up on assignments.

*

Sui Houyu and Ran Shu were driven away by Coach Wang to a nearby hospital for their physical exams, which required checks in various areas.

Coach Wang was initially quite nervous, fearing there would be problems with Sui Houyu.

However, once the results came back, both of them were slightly underweight. But all other indicators were normal, and there were no other disqualifications. Coach Wang happily brought the two of them back to school.

Upon returning to school, the two didn’t go back to attend evening self-study; instead, they sneakily returned to the dormitory and ordered a massive amount of takeout on their phones.

Milk tea, lemon black tea, and their usual favorites came in one order each, and they got large bottles of Coke and Sprite.

They also bought a bunch of fried and puffed foods that they couldn’t eat as athletes.

When the takeout arrived, there was so much food that it wouldn’t fit on both desks, so the two of them simply pulled out yoga mats, laid the food out on them, and sat cross-legged on the mats to eat.

As long as they didn’t quit the team, this would be the most indulgent meal they would have for the next two years.

As for whether they would continue playing tennis after graduation, neither of them had thought about it at all.

After the athletes finished training and came back from their showers, they opened the door and were stunned by the scene before them, not daring to step inside. They stood in a line at the doorway, watching the two of them.

Ran Shu set down his burger, stood up with difficulty, and said: “I can’t do it. I need to lie down and rest for a bit.”

Just as he was about to sit on Sui Houyu’s bed, he heard Sui Houyu snap at him: “Don’t sit on my bed!”

Ran Shu immediately stood back up. However, his stomach was so full that climbing to the upper bunk was uncomfortable, so he looked at Sang Xian and pointed to his bed.

Sang Xian agreed: “You can lie down.”

However, after Ran Shu lay down, he walked over to the table and brought over a tissue to hand to Ran Shu, saying: “But you need to wipe your mouth.”

Ran Shu, looking like a pregnant woman, used the tissue to wipe his mouth and tossed it aside, continuing to lie down.

Sang Xian looked at him with a frown, then picked up the tissue and tossed it in the trash can.

The other few people in the dorm had nothing to do, so after entering the dorm, some sat on Sang Xian’s bed, while others sat on chairs, all watching Sui Houyu eat.

They really didn’t understand how someone as thin as Sui Houyu could have such a big appetite, sipping on milk tea, eating a slice of pizza, and then gulping down a large mouthful of Coke.

After a moment to catch his breath, he ate another burger.

Looking at the mess around them, they knew that the two had already been eating for quite a while before they returned.

It was hard to tell how much they had eaten before.

Hou Mo watched for a bit and said, “Actually… when it’s not game season, we also eat crayfish.”

Sui Houyu looked up at Hou Mo, who nodded affirmatively. Then he tossed the remaining crayfish away.

There were still more than a hundred left.

Hou Mo’s heart ached, his features scrunched together: “Isn’t this a bit wasteful?”

“Since this isn’t something we need to cut out, it won’t take up space in our stomachs. Plus, we can’t finish these anyway; we just want to have a taste of everything but can’t buy just a bite.”

Hou Mo suddenly felt that Sui Houyu was just a spendthrift.

In the end, he still held back. They had different living habits, and he couldn’t say anything.

After a while, he got up and walked over to Sui Houyu’s bedside to pick up his sports uniform, saying, “This set of sportswear might lose some color on the first wash, so be careful. I’ll rinse it out for you, and after that, you can machine wash it without worry.”

Having said that, he took Sui Houyu’s clothes and headed outside to the laundry room.

Ran Shu struggled to get up: “I-I need to wash mine too…”

“Come with me, I’ll teach you; it’s a good way to help you digest,” Hou Mo didn’t want to help Ran Shu, but he phrased it very well; at least Ran Shu didn;t hear anything wrong with it.

Ran Shu supported himself against the bed and stood up, holding his sportswear as he followed Hou Mo to the washing room.

Sui Houyu only glanced back while eating, then continued to eat.

Hou Mo’s extracurricular life after returning to the dorm consisted of stretching, cleaning his shoes, and sleeping.

Today, he had an additional task: helping Sui Houyu with laundry.

After washing them clean, he hung them on the dorm balcony, shaking them out to make them very neat.

When he walked back in, Sui Houyu was tidying up the things in the dorm, having packed three bags of trash to throw away. Hou Mo quickly took two of them and accompanied Sui Houyu to throw them out.

Deng Yiheng was lying on the bed watching and mumbled, “Does Senior Brother owe Brother Yu money?”

Sang Xian, who was originally tidying the bed, suddenly heard the keyword and got up to ask, “Is Hou Mo short on money?”

“No, no, no!” Deng Yiheng was afraid Sang Xian would send money to Hou Mo again, so he quickly explained, “Look, Senior Brother’s attitude toward Brother Yu is just like a filial grandson.”

Sang Xian let out a sigh of relief: “A male dog in heat, I suppose.”

After hearing this, Deng Yiheng suddenly perked up, but quickly wilted: “Sigh, Senior Brother is going to face his first setback in life.”

Sang Xian laughed along.

When Sui Houyu and Hou Mo returned, Hou Mo was pushed out of the dorm by Deng Yiheng and Shen Junjing. Sui Houyu glanced back but ignored them, taking his things and going to shower with Ran Shu.

Hou Mo felt these two were being suspicious and asked them: “What are you doing?”

Deng Yiheng replied: “I told you it was weird how you didn’t intervene that day when he left, you were still staring at him, and even followed him running. So that’s how it is.”

Shen Junjing added: “I told you something was off with the way you looked at them, right? You were even holding an umbrella with him during the sports meeting.”

Deng Yiheng continued: “Not to mention, during the self-introduction at the beginning of the semester, you imitated him, trying to catch his attention?”

“Elementary school chicken.”

“Rookie player.”

Hou Mo was stunned by their back-and-forth, then said, “You two are really in sync; you could be partners in anything. Stop practicing tennis and start practicing crosstalk instead!”

Deng Yiheng raised an eyebrow: “You’ve got a crush on Brother Yu, don’t you?”

Hou Mo shook his head: “Not really. It’s just that after seeing him, I feel a strong sense of guilt and want to make it up to him.”

Deng Yiheng nodded along: “Right, you didn’t think there was anything off about him before you realized you were childhood friends. Did you have a sense of guilt back then? Was it emanating from your subconscious mind?”

Hou Mo: “……”

Deng Yiheng suddenly patted his chest: “Don’t worry, Senior Brother! We’ll help you out; we’re absolutely god-level assists.”

“Take a break.” Hou Mo patted Deng Yiheng’s shoulder, “Dude, you’re too excited. I really don’t like him; I don’t feel anything like that at all. You guys are overthinking it…”

Deng Yiheng looked at Shen Junjing, pointing at Hou Mo and asking: “This little fool doesn’t even realize it, right?”

Shen Junjing nodded in agreement: “Probably.”

Deng Yiheng said: “You thought he liked you, but it turns out you were the one who liked him first.  Isn’t that embarrassing? Is he hopeless or what?”

Shen Junjing asked: “Is that really a thing?”

Deng Yiheng answered: “Of course! What a case of unrequited love. I can’t stand it anymore.”

Hou Mo’s face turned long.

Deng Yiheng propped his chin thoughtfully: “This is the first time I’ve encountered something like this. Should we be more cautious when Brother Yu changes clothes or something? After all, he’s like a brother’s sister-in-law?”

Shen Junjing replied, “I don’t know. This is probably much harder to handle than a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship, right?”

Deng Yiheng said, “Fortunately, I always felt Brother Yu was a girl dressing as a boy, so I was really cautious around him. Otherwise, it’d be very awkward later.”

Hou Mo rolled his eyes, emphasizing again: “I really don’t like him!”

Deng Yiheng and Shen Junjing exchanged glances and continued discussing in front of Hou Mo, “We should probably keep our distance to prevent him from catching on and getting jealous later.”

Shen Junjing nodded seriously.

Hou Mo felt so angry that he wanted to hit both of them.

After the lights in the dorm were turned off, everyone lay on their beds.

Deng Yiheng suddenly cleared his throat and asked: “Is everyone asleep?”

The others responded sporadically, proving that no one was asleep.

Deng Yiheng pondered for a moment and said, “Let’s talk about some adult topics.”

He felt he needed to get some information and ask Sui Houyu what he thought of Hou Mo.

Late at night was the best time to discuss such matters.

Hou Mo was the first to join in on this topic: “Um, adult topics… How can one get rich?” After hearing this question, Deng Yiheng was stumped for a long time, not knowing how to respond.

In the end, Deng Yiheng sighed: “Forget it, let’s not talk about it. Sorry for interrupting; goodnight.”

Hou Mo actually went to pull Deng Yiheng’s pillow and asked: “Was my question not mature enough?”

“Don’t ask me! I’m dizzy!” Deng Yiheng completely gave up trying to help.

Hou Mo, with a grin, sent a WeChat message to Sui Houyu: “Goodnight.”

Little Demon Bean: “???”

Little Demon Bean: “Is there something wrong in your head? Sending a WeChat message when we’re in the same room?”